A deal to end the longest federal government shutdown ever appears to be in hand in the U.S. Senate. But Vermont’s senators, Peter Welch and Bernie Sanders, are voting “no.”
The plan to reopen the government does not meet Democrats’ central demand: that enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies be extended. Instead, the eight senators who split from Democrats to vote alongside Republicans settled for a commitment from GOP leaders to schedule a vote on the subsidies before the end of the year.
It was no surprise that Sanders, an independent, was against the deal. But Welch, a Democrat, was once perceived as a swing vote in shutdown talks.
In an interview with Vermont Public, Welch said Monday that he left negotiations when it became clear that Republicans weren’t willing to cut a deal that promised anything concrete on Obamacare tax credits. There’s very little chance, he said, that the vote on the subsidies Republicans have promised will actually lead to an extension.
“I'm going to work on that as vigorously as I can to see if there's any possibility of us succeeding,” Welch said. “...But I'm very pessimistic about it, in all candor, because the president himself has made it clear he has no interest in this.”
Welch said he respects his Democratic colleagues who voted to reopen the government. For them, lapses in the Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program — the country’s largest hunger relief program — and disrupted air travel just became too much.
Welch nevertheless argues that the shutdown was not “for naught.”
“There is a battle going on in this country, and it is ongoing. And I really would encourage my colleagues here in the Senate, and Vermonters and Americans, to hang in there,” he said.
Some 30,000 Vermonters get their health insurance on Vermont Health Connect, and many are experiencing sticker shock during open enrollment as they look at the cost for plans for next year without the enhanced tax credits. Estimates from the state’s commercial insurers suggest roughly 5,000 could ditch insurance altogether next year if the COVID-era subsidies go away.
